My friend Jon Christopher compares using Safari 3.1 and Firefox 3 Beta 4 as his primary browser and as a browser for developers to use to build their sites. He once again confirms that Firebug, a plugin for Firefox that aids developers in debugging their code, is the main reason many developers use it as their primary browser. If it wasn’t for Firebug I wouldn’t even have Firefox installed on my Macintosh.
(Source: Comparing Safari 3.1 and Firefox 3 Beta 4 – Monday By Noon)
8 Comments
Hey thanks for the plug, Colin! I know I’ve heard you talk about how much you love Safari — is it still your primary browser? Do you have a different ‘daily’ and ‘development’ browser? Personally my daily activities and development activities are far too blended for me to use two different apps, but I know many people do.
Jonathan: I use Safari 3.1 for both surfing and development now that the developer tools in Safari 3.1 are much improved. However, Firebug in Firefox, although not as pretty as Safari’s tools, still works a little better for debugging JavaScript, so I still have that handy.
I love Safari 3.1 on Windows for one reason: readability. Font rendering in Safari is so much nicer than anything out there. I’ve been using it as my primary browser for about two months now. (I used a pre-release version prior to its official release.)
Having said that, I’m not happy with Safari. It’s got awful memory issues on XP. If I keep it open for long periods of time, and/or keep multiple tabs open, it’s not uncommon for the app to consume 400Mb RAM or more.
The Web Inspector isn’t nearly as nice as Firebug, and for that sole reason I continually go back to Firefox over and over again.
@Chris Harrison: I’ve heard time and time again that many Windows users can’t stand type rendering in Safari, but you’re the second Windows user today to tell me otherwise. It’s interesting to see that there’s more of a divide among Windows users than I originally thought…
@Jonathan Christopher: I’m an atypical Windows user. I’m at home on both Mac & PC. I have a print background.
But I think if casual users knew there was something they could do to make things better on the eye they’d do it. I’d imagine most of them don’t even know about ClearType in XP (which is off by default).
Chris Harrison: Ironically enough, your unhappiness with RAM usage on Windows for Safari is one of the main reasons I do not like to use Firefox on the Mac – it sucks up RAM.
I really do believe that since computer specs are so much better nowadays that application developers are careless about memory usage. Or, at least care less than they used to.
@Colin: Firefox on Windows suffers from RAM issues as well – especially FF2. Though, it’s improved somewhat in the FF3 beta 4 release.
I haven’t clicked over just yet, but the new Developer features in Safari give Firebug a run for its money. Firefox on Windows has AWFUL memory problems. I forgot how bad it was until I went back to having a PC at my new job (don’t worry, I have a Mac too). Time to go read.